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Turkey, positioned geopgraphically on the edge of Europe and politically inside of NATO, has been heading in a troubling direction for some time in regards to speech. Crackdowns on dissent and even open speech are increasing and Internet communications are the specific focus of some of the recent actions. Coming up is legislation intended to curb the Internet (WWW) in ways similar to how television and radio have already been limited:
Having already brought Turkey's mainstream media to heel, and made considerable headway in rolling back Turkish democracy, the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has set its sights on a seemingly innocuous target: a satellite television preacher named Adnan Oktar.
[...] "It is just about control," said Kerem Altiparmak, a human rights and media lawyer. "Considering what has been happening in Turkey, I have no doubt this is a hegemonic power, controlling newspapers, TV and the judiciary, that is now out to control the [I]nternet sector."
All the restrictions are made that much easier through increased use of and dependence on centralized services like Facebook by the remaining opposition.
Source : Erdogan's Next Target as He Restricts Turkey's Democracy: The Internet
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 05 2018, @08:34PM (5 children)
No, Hindenburg was elected. Hitler abolished the office of the Presidency, combined it with Chancellor, and made himself Fuhrer. He never won an election, but that hasn't stopped armchair historians from claiming he did every time they want to invalidate one.
(Score: 3, Informative) by pTamok on Monday March 05 2018, @10:19PM (4 children)
In April 1932, Hindenburg beat Hitler in elections for the Presidency (Hindenburg 53%, Hitler 36.8%, and a Communist candidate 10.2% of the vote)
In July 1933, Hitler's party, the NSDAP, won 230 out of 608 seats in the Reichstag. The second largest party was the Social Democratic Party, with 133 seats, followed by the Communists with 89, the Centre Party with 75, and the German National People's Party with 37 seats. It was impossible to form a stable governing coalition with a majority of seats. A new election was called in November, where the NSDAP still were the largest party (but with fewer seats - NSDAP 196, Social Democrats 121, Communists 100, Centre Party 70, German National People Party 51). As no coalition could be formed with a majority of the seats, eventually Hindenburg invited Hitler to form a cabinet in a minority government, which was done in January 1933. It was likely the leader of the Centre Party, Franz von Papen's [wikipedia.org] influence on Hindenburg that convinced Hindenburg that Hitler could be an acceptable Chancellor.
Once Hitler was Chancellor, he made use of the Reichstag Fire to start concentrating power to himself, and the rest, as they say is history. The Wikipedia article on von Papen is well worth a read - effectively von Papen convinced Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as Chancellor of a minority government as he (von Papen) believed he had an agreement with Hitler and could control him.
One can argue that if von Papen had not been a 'useful idiot', Hitler would have found another way to achieve power, but certainly, as history played out, von Papen's influence, for good or ill, helped Hitler greatly.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 05 2018, @11:05PM (3 children)
Make whatever argument you want about the conditions which led to Hitler's rise, I'm not arguing that the events didn't surround an election or even that Hitler's performance in the election didn't lead to his appointment as chancellor, but saying "Hitler was democratically elected" is false. Hitler wasn't anything elected. Hitler lost the 1932 election, he was APPOINTED Chancellor, and he DECLARED HIMSELF Fuhrer.
Say he was popular if you want, that's true; calling him a democratically elected leader is a lie.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 06 2018, @08:11AM
So like Trump, who LOST an election by popular vote and was then APPOINTED by the Electoral College. Then he is praising dictators and soon wants to declare himself as Emperor of America (or at least President for Life). something like that?
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday March 06 2018, @08:59AM (1 child)
Just because you've only ever encountered majority as a decision criterion doesn't mean that plurality doesn't exist. (And as many coallitions prove, the majority provided by the coallition is effectively just leverage of a plurality position.)
Hindenberg did have the power to veto this, that's all. And given the trend in the results of the two elections, he should have done.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 06 2018, @09:15PM
Hitler was not elected Chancellor. Hitler was appointed Chancellor by the President, who WAS elected, in response to Hitler's performance in the election which he lost.
You are grasping at straws to justify a factually incorrect application of Godwin's Law. The Chancellor is not an elected office. Hitler was not elected.